The People’s Republic of #China (PRC) and others perceive the U.S. as a nation in decline. However, the U.S. President, members of Congress and media pundits passionately reject that notion as a falsehood. So, what neutral observations might permit Americans to determine for themselves whether or not our nation is in decline?

One measure might be the resilience of America’s most respected institutions when tempted by short-term political benefits of the China-averse groupthink. The United States #Marine Corps (USMC) serves as a case in point.

For centuries the USMC was respected by allies and feared by adversaries for its potency as a flexible and lethal global force for good. Central to the Corps’ potency was its wide variety of weapons, equipment, and skill sets that permitted employment of combinations of arms suited to a broad range of conflicts in every climate and location.

But that proud legacy ended abruptly. Today the USMC has elected to ride a wave of bipartisan political hysteria that demonizes the PRC. The Corps has surrendered to that popular groupthink hoping to gain stature in the Department of Defense (DoD), the national security community, industry, and Congress by focusing solely on America’s so-named pacing threat.

Kowtowing to a purely political China-averse agenda has come at a steep cost. Our current leaders have divested the Corps of its legendary capabilities naively expecting a resource windfall for further modernization. In exchange our Corps has volunteered to serve as a defensive and overwhelmingly static land-based force aboard of the 1st Island Chain islands that does little more than provide security for long range anti-ship cruise missiles in a kinetic conflict.

In the process we have cashiered engineers, tanks, snipers, and maritime prepositioned shipping. Sacrifices also include critical reductions in infantry, tube artillery, assault support, attack air, amphibious lift, ship-to-shore connectors, and other mandated general purpose force capabilities.

The Marines lack survivable equipment and skill sets for the unprecedented new mission. The vast distances between islands prevent small unit mutual support. The small units isolated aboard widely dispersed islands are hapless in the face of PRC total information warfare (TIW) doctrine and capabilities. The new China-focused mission is questionable overall, but if ordered it is much better suited to the U.S. Army that has decades of experience in preparing for battlefields in Korea and Europe.

USMC leadership foreknowledge of FD 2030 vulnerabilities is publicly confirmed. PRC TIW would render logistical resupply, force rotations and responsive casualty evacuation improbable in conflict. So USMC doctrine now sanctions small units to scavenge for scarce resources, in competition with indigenous non-combatants if Marines are forced into a survival mode. Allied nations such as Japan and the Philippines should be wary of the unintended consequences.

Some senior active-duty General Officers have recently aired rational objections to FD 2030. But those objections only come years after the current course has been programmatically fixed.

Interestingly, they were all enthusiastic supporters and developers of FD 2030 from its earliest stages when the Corps’ PRC obsession was still debatable.
Instead, these likewise politicized active-duty general officers remained silent as FD 2030 was permitted to evolve in a non-disclosure agreement protected petri dish. The silence of today’s crop of senior active-duty senior generals may be explained by career ambitions. The Marine Corps was once the exception to this weak character trait, but no more.

Those active-duty senior generals are candidates for selection as the next Commandant today, and their championing a return to the Corps global focus rings hollow. Having remained silent despite their reservations, they are complicit in the Marine Corps’ self-destruction. The boldest and most audacious military characters once defined USMC culture, but the forces of ambition and fear are now overpowering.

The radical reprogramming of resources to accomplish FD 2030 objectives has made any return to the Corps’ proven Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) capabilities virtually impossible for well over a decade into the future.

An overwhelming majority of retired Marines including revered general officers warned this Commandant that capabilities divestitures without debate or experimentation would place young Marines at risk and undermine the Corps’ credibility. But their thoughtful critiques were ignored and their articles censored and rejected for inclusion in USMC professional journals.
Contrary to deterrence, the Corps’ band wagoning and mantra recitation related to Taiwan’s defense and China’s containment are inviting a U.S. war with China over Taiwan to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Marines deployed to the Indo Pacific will pay the price for Marine leader ambitions.

Once a direct reflection of a strong American self-image and identity, any neutral observer would agree that the USMC’s self-destruction is one valid measure of our nation’s decline.

Major Franz Gayl US Marines (Ret).
The author is a combat vet, retired Marine Corps infantry officer, student of China, and a former Pentagon employee.